UK road traffic rises 25% in 15 years

Heavy traffic on the M6 in the West Midlands. Photograph: David Jones/PA

Road traffic has increased nearly 25% in the last 15 years despite government attempts to get people to drive less, legal targets to slash carbon emissions and a major increase in rail use, new figures show.

Department for Transport statistics show that London marginally reduced its road traffic levels between 1993 and 2007 but Lincolnshire increased by 65%, North Yorkshire 44% and Oxfordshire by 46%. Overall, Britons drove an estimated 512bn km in 2007 compared to 412bn in 1993. The increases in traffic have made transport the fastest growing source of domestic carbon emissions.

The figures, which have been collated by two leading countryside and transport pressure groups, show that the East Midlands region increased road traffic the most with 39%, while traffic in the south-east rose the least with 21%. Surrey and Berkshire traffic increased only 12% in the 15 years.

The figures were released as English regional bodies announced plans to spend more than £4bn in the next five years on 92 major road-building schemes, which are expected to further increase traffic levels and carbon dioxide emissions.

Many of the schemes, which include bypasses for cities such as Hereford and Baldock, the dualling of long stretches of major roads and new link and relief roads, were rejected years ago because of their costs or the possible ecological damage they would cause. A government analysis showed that new road schemes can increase traffic 8-10% in a year.

Spending on road building ranges from 45% of proposed transport funding for major schemes in Yorkshire and Humber to over 80% in the south-east.

Campaigners said they were dismayed by the regions' lack of sustainable transport plans . "They are still wedded to road building. They had the option to ask central government for different kinds of transport schemes, including rail, cycling and trams, but they have overwhelmingly chosen road building. Instead of investing in sustainable transport the regions have asked the government to rubber stamp a bunch of ancient road schemes that will tear up the countryside, increase traffic and lock in greenhouse gas emissions for years to come," said Richard George, transport campaigner at the Campaign for Better Transport group.

"We need urgent investment in rail, bus, walking and cycle routes to give people in all areas real choices for low-carbon travel." said Ralph Smyth, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England's transport campaigner. "Disappointedly every single region is on course to increase its transport emissions. Transport ministers should not accept the regions' wish-lists unchanged."